internet infrastructure
Web's physical foundation
Internet infrastructure is the physical and organizational foundation that makes the internet work—the network of cables, servers, data centers, routers, and exchange points that carry digital traffic across the world.
It includes undersea fiber optic cables spanning oceans, satellite links, and the protocols governing data transmission.
Discussions of internet infrastructure often concern its vulnerability to damage, cyberattack, or government control: The hurricane knocked out critical internet infrastructure across the region.
- serversMachines providing network resources
- firewallsSecurity barriers blocking intrusions
- IP addressesUnique device location codes
- DNS serversResolve domains to IPs
- routersPacket-forwarding network hardware
switches · encryption algorithms · VPNs · modems · data centers · server farms · gateways · power supplies · cooling systems · always on · backup solutions · file systems · fiber optics · dark fiber · last mile · antivirus software
- strategic industriessemiconductors, telecommunications, aerospace, cybersecurity, defense
- technologyelectronics, computing, computer, social media, computers
- infrastructurehighways, road construction, railway expansion, power grid, roads
internet infrastructuretelephone network
Connected lines for calls
telegraph system · postal system · sneakernet · oral tradition
internet infrastructureoff-grid
Without utility connections
internet blackout · internet shutdown · dead zone · network outage · offline
internet infrastructureweb content
Material published on sites
digital content · online services · applications · user data · websites
internet, infrastructure, netted, netting, networks, networking, networked, intranet, intranets